Barry Caffrey
Reporting from Shepherds Bush

It’s a frustrating morning for passengers here at Shepherds Bush. There’s no tube running at all and no overground service.

The only trains running are the Southern service trains from Clapham Junction going towards Willesden Junction and Watford.

The problem here is there are so many people queuing at bus stops. At the moment there are about 70 people waiting for buses and the buses that do arrive are very busy.

There are much fewer buses running than there normally would be as bus drivers are on strike on several routes in west and south west London.

There are many frustrated passengers here. One woman who is trying to get to Woolwich Arsenal told me she has no idea how she's going to get there.

Tom Edwards
Transport Correspondent

For bus drivers it's pay, for Tube workers the issue is pensions and job losses.

As part of government's pandemic bailout of Transport for London, due to a lack of passengers, it attached conditions:

• £400m savings - translates to 600 post closures
• Pension review – to make it "financially sustainable"

So while TfL says it doesn’t have plans to change pensions - and London's mayor says he doesn't want to - it is a red line to the unions. And Tfl hasn't given unions enough of a guarantee about the pensions future to stop a strike.

And we don't yet know the conditions attached to the government's latest bailout proposals that are being negotiated at the moment.

Sameena Misbahuddin
BBC London

Stratford station much quieter than usual due to strike action with many commuters choosing to work from home or take alternative routes if they can.

Small picket line outside main entrance not attracting much passenger attention.

Stratford is one station that has a number of travel options available despite the strike - overground services resumed at 8am, Elizabeth line is running and the Central line is running through to Liverpool Street.

Train services also running.

Harry Low
BBC London News

"It's been manic" one bus driver told me whilst taking a break at Victoria station.

He reported longer queues on the roads and at bus stops as passengers try to find alternative routes.

"I'd filled the bus on first stop on Oxford Street," he says.

A bit more now from Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

He says the rail industry has made a "very fair pay offer" to staff that "if they put it to their members... they most likely want to accept it and get on with things".

Speaking to BBC Breakfast he accuses "union barons" of holding their membership hostage to strike ballots rather than allowing them to have their say on the current pay offer, an 8% rise over two years, which he called "very fair".

He admits that the pay offer doesn't keep pace with inflation but says "we don't want to be in a 1970s vicious cycle" of rising wages pushing up prices that we would "never get out of".

Image source, Reuters

Responding to the strikes, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says he doesn't see any reason for the "enormously disruptive" action.

He is defending his level of involvement in the dispute between firms and unions, denying that he is removing himself from the negotiations.

"I'm involved in it [the process] every single day, probably once every hour," he tells BBC Breakfast.

Shapps adds that his involvement with a ministerial leadership group sees them "look at the overall picture and work out how we can manage to get the offer which is on the table, that's an 8% pay rise over two years, to the members of the union".

All London Underground lines are suspended or part-suspended. Only the Elizabeth line and the DLR have a good service. You can get the latest service updates from TfL, external.

Image source, RfL

Although railways have been hit by a series of strikes, the last Tube walkout was almost exactly two months ago on 21 June.

On that occasion, only a limited number of shuttle services operated on the outskirts of London, as about 10,000 London Underground staffed took action.

Image source, PA Media

London's transport network is severely limited today as Tube and bus workers hold separate strikes over pay and conditions.

The walkouts are the latest in a summer of labour market disputes as double-digit inflation eats into wages.

The strike by Tube workers is the fifth this year and the rising cost of living has led to a standoff between Transport for London (TfL), unions and the government.

Firms say rising costs and falling demand limit their room to negotiate, unions say their workers cannot afford to live, and the government is worried that big wage increases may fuel inflation.

Trade union RMT says the Underground strike is in response to a lack of assurances about jobs and pensions from TfL.

RMT chief Mick Lynch says Tube bosses are having "secret negotiations with the government about slashing jobs and undermining working conditions and pensions all in the name of removing subsidies".

TfL is itself in prolonged negotiations with the government after the expiration of an emergency state funding deal, in part necessitated by a post-pandemic fall in passengers.

It says the RMT is seeking assurances from TfL that "no organisation could meaningfully provide" and that nobody has or will lose their jobs because of the proposals it has set out.

Image source, Reuters

It's not just London Underground services that are affected today as some Overground, rail and bus routes are also limited this morning,

Here's how things are looking in the capital:

London Underground: Severe disruption on all lines and little to no services throughout the day with no Night Tube

London Overground: Late start. No Night Overground

Elizabeth line: Normal service from 07:00 BST on central, east and west routes, with some disruption after 22:30

Trams: Reduced service

DLR: Services into Bank running between 07:00 and 18:30 with all other services running normally

Buses: Services affected in west and south west London and parts of Surrey with no Night Bus on impacted routes

National Rail: Very little service before 08:00

Harry Low
Reporting from London's Victoria station

Not everybody clustered around the railway station is so supportive.

One man told me his views on the strikers are "unbroadcastable".

Harry Low
Reporting from London's Victoria station

Eugene Lynch has a flight to Dublin catch at 09:45 from Gatwick Airport and had to take the bus to Victoria rather than a Tube.

The 39-year-old, who is heading to a wedding, said he woke up two hours earlier.

He says: "We're very supportive of the workers who are trying to get better pay and conditions. We understand the reasons for it."

Harry Low
Reporting from London's Victoria station

Image source, Reuters

The shutters are pulled across at the Tube station, it's the same story at the railway station.

There's quite a lot of people clustered around the entrance, many of them sitting on their suitcases, clearly caught out by the fact that not only is this Tube strike in operation but the hangover from yesterday’s National Rail strike continues to have an impact.

There will be no train services from this station and many others before 08:00 this morning.

That means that passengers who are trying to get to places like Gatwick Airport, where you might travel from Victoria, and various places in Kent and Sussex, where Southeastern and Southern run their services from here, won't actually be able to do that for at least another hour and a half.

What's interesting about today's Tube strike is it's the first one that’s been called this year on a Friday – it's the fifth tube strike we’ve had in 2022 but the others have been on a Monday, a Thursday, and two on Tuesdays.

We found out last week from a report that only 13% of people who are office workers decide to come in on a Friday whereas in the middle of the week, that figure’s around 39%.

It remains to be seen if the impact of this one will be lesser than the four tube strikes already this year.

Transport bosses have been telling passengers not to travel unless necessary.

"Customers are advised to avoid travelling on the Tube and only travel on the rest of the TfL network if essential," Transport for London (TfL) said in a statement.

National Rail services will not operate as normal until after 08:00.

This is the first 24-hour Tube strike to fall on a Friday this year.

Previous industrial action fell on Monday, Tuesday (twice) and Thursday.

Only 13%of workers travel to the office on a Friday, according to a recent survey.

That number is three times higher in the middle of the week so it’s possible the impact of this strike may not be as widespread as during previous action.

However, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), external, the majority of people do not work from home.

Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of the transport strikes in London.

We're expecting to see serious disruption as Tube workers and bus drivers walk out.

People are being advised to avoid travelling throughout the day.

Stay with us for the latest.